Conditioning

Conditioning: what is it and how does it work

Conditioning is the process of developing new behavioral skills by modifying stimulus/response associations. This process can occur in two forms: classical and operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning is based on the fact that a stimulus (usually a sound, light or smell) is not accompanied by any special response present in conjunction with the stimulus that automatically produces the response. For example, our salivary gland may begin to secrete when we see a photo of our favorite food. This is repeated until a response to the first stimulus occurs. This process is called a conditioned reflex.

Operant conditioning, on the other hand, relies on rewarding (or punishing) a response each time it occurs, so that it occurs more (or less) frequently over time. For example, rats that pressed a lever to get food learned to do so faster and more often when they were presented with food each time they pressed the lever. This process is called consolidation.

Conditioning is an important learning mechanism and can be used to modify behavior in animals and humans. For example, behavioral therapists often use conditioning to treat phobias and other psychological disorders.

However, like any other method, conditioning has its limitations. For example, some responses may be difficult to condition, especially if they involve painful sensations or require complex thought processes.

Thus, conditioning is an important learning mechanism that can be used to modify behavior in animals and humans. However, it has its limitations and its use should be carried out under the supervision of an experienced specialist.

Conditioning is the development of new behavioral skills by modifying stimulus/response associations. In the case of classical conditioning, the stimulus is usually not accompanied by any special response present in conjunction with the stimulus that automatically produces the response. This is repeated until a response to the first stimulus occurs (see Conditioned reflex). In operant conditioning, a response is rewarded (or punished) each time it occurs, so that it occurs more (or less) frequently over time (see Reinforcement).

Conditioning according to Skinner

Although the American psychologist B.F. Skinner played the main role in the origin of the concepts of classical and operant conditioning, he was the first to connect the question of the conditioning of reactions with the behavior of animals. The American sociologist L. Festinger was the first promoter of the concept of the conditioned reflex, using it to analyze social behavior. Only in the 20s of the twentieth century they were connected together by B. Skinner. He proposed the name conditioning with classical reinforcement, and with operant reinforcement - self-regulation. Skinner himself called O. u. or training, or teaching, or behavior management. The concepts of both teachings may overlap, since reinforcement can follow a behavioral act only if the subject is able to interrupt it (this decision does not depend on the will of the experimenter, as with O.-u., but on the capabilities of the subject himself and allows us to judge what kind of training is generally available to him). Thus, by subordinating human behavior to conditions that support a certain type of action, we obtain reactions indicating that this type of behavior is well controllable, although initially the desire and opportunity to perform it were absent. With O.-y. this approach occurred more often. At the same time, Skinner distinguished between primary and secondary conditioning. The primary arises due to the consequences of stimuli leading to some reactions that do not exist in nature; but the secondary appears due to the operations primarily necessary for the “breakthrough” to behavior. It follows that primary conditioning extends to all aspects of learning (hence it can be called universal conditioning), and secondary conditioning extends only to those for which stimuli or operations exist. Thus, the formation of verbal conditioned connections is always mediated by motor comprehension of speech (automatism of articulation), i.e. movement of the tongue. Even after the subject forgets the motor system of connection formation, “primary” conditioning is automatically included in the action - learning something (which occurs at a significantly lower speed than with secondary conditioning). Moreover, for this slow process Skinner could be taken as an independent element of the process that Kroemer called oral. This process is designed to analyze data from the neurophysiology of human behavior. Each of the main goals (depending on the sphere - educational, technical, political, intercultural) turns out to be a new task that requires an analysis of the rules of social cognition, so that then these tasks could become part of social learning, which begins in classes with students, engineers, politicians and representatives of other social